Westwood Wire
May 25, 2021
Dear Westwood Families,
It is with gratitude that I write the last Wire message for the 20-21 school year. Families, you have worked alongside your students and supported them as well as the teachers.
The last 14 months have brought many changes to the world, to our community and to Westwood. I am humbled to learn and lead during this historic year and have felt your commitment to our collective success.
For our students heading to high school, I know they are ready to represent Westwood well and bring academic, athletic and fine arts excellence along with them. For the rising 8th graders, next year they will be the student leaders on campus and we are looking forward to them shining and meeting this challenge.
We hope that you are all able to rest and enjoy some down time during the summer break.
Parent Survey Ends Friday May 28th Click here to take Richardson ISD’s 2021 Parent Survey. Richardson ISD values parental opinion as the district strives to fulfill its mission of serving and preparing all students for their global future. Parents can use the same survey link to select a different campus and complete the survey again for families with students at multiple campuses. The survey closes Friday, May 28. It is available in English, Spanish (Español), Arabic (العَرَبِيَّة), Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt), Urdu (اُردُو), and Amharic (አማርኛ).
Sincerely,
Katie Mottram
WWJH Principal
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8th Grade End of Year Celebration and Awards
Summer 2021 Student Device and Insurance Information
Starting with the summer of 2021, all returning RISD secondary students will keep their school-issued Chromebooks over the summer.
Allowing returning RISD secondary students to keep their devices over the summer provides continued opportunities for learning through district summer programs. Secondary students will have continual access to RISD resources through the school-issued device, creating greater technology access for families and streamlining logistics for students and campuses.
Insurance Option for Secondary Students
Insurance for school-issued Chromebooks will continue to be available over the summer through Worth Ave. Group.
Students are responsible for the upkeep of their Chromebook. Parents may continue to cover their student’s school-issued device from accidental damage or theft over the summer for $8. The insurance premium for June, July and August is $8.
The replacement cost for a Chromebook is $265.
For more information about summer insurance for student Chromebooks, please visit https://gpo.worthavegroup.com/gpo/richardson-isd-summer/.
RISD Summer Help Desk for Students
Technical and device issues will arise over the summer, and RISD will maintain two student Help Desk facilities to repair and troubleshoot school-issued devices.
If a device needs to be repaired during the summer, students have two options:
All summer long, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
at the RISD Help Desk Annex at 420 S Greenville Ave, Richardson, Texas 75081
In June and July, Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Berkner STEM Academy High School at 1600 E Spring Valley Road, Richardson, Texas 75081
Walk-ins are accepted at either location. Additional support is available by emailing helpdesk@risd.org or calling 469-593-HELP(4357) before attempting to drop off a device.
Devices that are covered by insurance will be repaired free of charge and a loaner will be issued immediately, if necessary. Devices not covered by insurance will necessitate payment before a loaner is issued or the original is repaired and returned.
Help Desk agents have a list of common replacement parts and costs.
- Looking Ahead to Next Year -
Math, Science and Technology Celebration
In November of this next school year we will host our first Math, Science and Technology Celebration where, for this one day, we will bring in a variety of speakers in the MST fields to engage our students with Ted-Like talks on their use of math, science and technology in their chosen careers.
More details will be shared in August.
Westwood Wolves in London (Spring Break 2022)
As we continue to look at additional programming for our students and to enhance the engagement to our mission statement we are offering next years 8th grade students the opportunity to travel to London for an educational and cultural trip for their spring break in 2022. This will be a great experience for our students to travel to another country and interact with a world that is different to what is offered in the DFW metroplex.
We hope to make this a yearly trip. If you have any questions on this trip please contact Mr. Brown - Assistant Principal.
7th Grade
Student schedules for 8th grade will not be finalized until the week prior to school. Students can still access their class requests in Focus (change the school year to 21-22, then click on class requests). More information will be made available when we get closer to the start of school regarding schedules and the start of school.
If your student is going to be in Athletics next year, make sure your student gets their UIL physical completed before the first day of school. Click Here for information and two opportunities for your student to get their physical done through RISD.
8th Grade
Please remind your 8th graders to check their RISD google email. We know they get a lot of google classroom alerts but they could be missing important information from their high school. Coaches, counselors and other RISD faculty use student email as a way to send out important information.
7th & 8th Grade
The following short video ACT (Acknowledge, Care, Tell) message from the WWJH Counselors was in the announcements and also lead academy lessons this week. The cards shown in the video were provided to face to face students in Lead Academy and are also available electronically in the WWJH Counselor Google Classrooms for all students.
Mental Health Awareness Month
Take a moment to start the week off with a positive focus on a single health topic. This week's focus is about: Self harm
Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI), commonly referred to as self-injury or self-harm, may be confusing and difficult to understand. Many people have a tough time talking about self-injury because it seems unnatural to them. It is important to understand what motivates someone to harm themselves because not all people do it for the same reason. The best way to help someone to stop self-injuring is to help them address the underlying issues.
Some interesting facts about self-injury:
- People that self-injure do not intend to die.
- Self-injury is a method to cope with stress – often seen as a way to control upsetting feelings.
- Other motivation for these actions is to dissociate from problems (e.g., to distract themselves from emotional pain).
- Self-injury can activate different chemicals in the brain that relieve emotional turmoil for a brief period.
Below are some great articles that can shed more light on the current behaviors to keep an eye on and what parents and counselors can do.
Help us spread the message
Taking care of mental health is as normal and important as eating healthy, exercising or even saving for the future. Share your story to help others understand that achieving mental health is a daily process.
Summer School
Parents,
Information about Summer School has been released https://risdsummerprograms.membershiptoolkit.com/home. Registration is open now and ends April 9th. There are a limited amount of spots for junior high and high school accelerated summer school so don’t wait to register. You must pay the full amount of the class at the time you register. Current 7th graders can only register for classes that are under the 7/8 grade offerings section and current 8th graders (and older) should register for a class under the 9-12 grade offerings section. The summer programs site is still adding information about summer programing as it is being finalized.
Online Enrollment for the 2021 - 2022 School Year is now OPEN!
All students must re-enroll for the 2021 - 2022 school year! If you have not done so already or have questions on how to start this process please reach out to Ms. Henry at 469-593-3510.
For more information visit - risd.org/enrollonline.
Spring Final Exam Schedule
Hello Student-Athletes Parent,
Due to the extenuating circumstances last year, the physical expiration dates were extended to June 1, 2021.
For the 21-22 school year every single athlete and band(HS) member will be required to have a new physical (on file) and Rank1 “completed before a student participates in any practice, before, during or after school, (both in-season and out-of-season) or performance/games/matches.” Per UIL*
RankOne “opened” on May 1st for forms to be filled out for 21-22. The flyer is attached for R1 and please use that as well. Please be sure to use the 2020 Pre-Participation Physical Form. The completed forms can be dropped off at Westwood JH during business hours or with RHS Athletic Trainers.
To the student-athletes, parents, and the entire WWJH community,
This past year has been extremely challenging for our athletic programs; however, we made it! We started the school year as WESTWOOD WARRIORS and are super excited to called the WESTWOOD WOLVES.
Thank you for everything you have done for us in the past, everything you still do and will continue to do. The coordinators and coaches, just want you to know how thankful we are, and we look forward to a fantastic future together. Have a great summer!
Orchestra Spring Concert
Choir Suceess at UIL Assessment
Straight SUPERIOR ratings
CONGRATULATIONS TO 2020-21 WWJH ALL-REGION CHOIR MEMBERS!
7th Grade: Ashlyn Cohen
8th Grade: Hannah Chapman, Nadyia Clifton, Claire Serold, Aubrey Tillery, Ella Wang
UTD Future Comets Program
Sign up today for this year's virtual summer camp. Register your child today for the UT Dallas Future Comets Math & College Readiness Program virtual summer camp. The program is hosted by the UTD Department of Community Engagement and helps students entering grades 8-12 with their math course. Students start the program by participating in the summer camp and continue with math and STEM workshops one Saturday per month from September to May. The goal of this program is to help your child ace their math class and become ready to enroll in college.
This year’s virtual camp will run from June 28 – July 15. The camp will meet virtually Monday to Thursday from 10 am – 12 pm and will include interactive math lessons, fun science programs, and college planning activities. UT Dallas will provide all of the materials needed for the activities students will complete at home.
Register your child today on our camp registration website. All students will be placed on a waitlist and your spot will be confirmed by June 4, 2021. If you have any problems registering, please call our office at 972-883-4546 or e-mail us at community@utdallas.edu.
Westwood Junior High Math, Science & Leadership Magnet
Email: kathryn.mottram@risd.org
Website: https://schools.risd.org/WestwoodJH
Location: 7630 Arapaho Road, Dallas, TX, USA
Phone: 469-593-3600
Facebook: facebook.com/WestWoodJH/
Twitter: @WestwoodJH_RISD